The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-19
CLEVELAND'S SECRETARY
SOMETHING ABOUT COL. LAMONT
AND THE WORK HE PERFORMS.

Saving the Administration Manv a, Mis-
take-A Terror to Bores and a Good
HUNDRED Diplomat His Great Infiu-
notwithstanding the Presidents Let
ters and Running the White House
Machine Generally.
From, the NetD York Sun.
WASHINGTON June 1l-There is no man
living who exercises a greater power in the
administration of the affairs of this govern
ment, scarcely excepting the President him
self, than Daniel Lamont, and | don't be-
lieve if you were to search the whole popu
lation over you could not find one better
qualified to fill the position he holds If
Presidents privave secretaries were to be
made to order, Dan Lamont would make
good model. He is cool, wary and alert;
he is judicious, diplomatic and deliberate.
he is patient, yet he is prompt; he can put
up with smooth bore who must be toler-
ated as long as anybody could, and he can
bounce out one who need not be listened to.
with skilful alacrity.
A gentleman who was about the execu-
tive mansion at Albanya good deal between
the time when Cleveland was elected and
inalgurated tells me that he set in
the back part of that house, and in
voluntarily overhead conversation between
the President eject and a gentleman who
was very deaf very tedious and had the
best of intentions. This adviser had been
instructing the President-elect as to his duty
for an hour or more while my friend was
waiting without, hardly stopping to draw
breath. when Daniel Lamont passed
through the room. The President glanced
up at him with a sigh of relief, and in an
undertone which the deaf man could not
hear, said:
Dan, can't you rescue me from this old
wooster; he has almost talked me to deathp
Lamont said:
Introduce me,n which ceremony being
performed, he Steered the bore over to the
other corner of the apartment as skillfullya as
an angler would snare trout, and in less
than five minutes was shaking hands with
him on the front steps and thanking him for
the honor of the call.
A man who can do that sort of thing
without giving offense is very handy
around the White House, where more bores
go than visit any other place on the CONT
nent The President appreciates the use
fulness OF his private secretary, and recog-
nizes it by paying Col Lamont as much
money out of his own pocket as he receives
from the government, which is $500 a
year, so that his compensation is very near
" as much as that of Cabinet officer,
Their coming together was an accident.
Till Mr. Cleveland was elected Governor of
New York Col. Lamont was a reporter of
the Albany Argus. During the campaign
he acted as Secretary of the State Commit
tee, and when Mr. Cleveland was getting up
his first message to the Legislature he asked
for some one who was well informed on
State affairs to assist him.
Everybody agreed that Dan Lamont
would be as able an assistant as could be
found, and so he went to Buffalo and re-
manned there three weeks with the new
Governor, hunting up statistics for him.
looking after his correspondence and doing
all sorts of jobs of a confidential and Off
cial nature.
When Gov. Cleveland was inaugllrated
he complimented Lamont by appointing
him to position on his staff, which had no
salary attached to it, but carried with it
the honorary rank of Colonel, and that is
' the way he got his military title. The new
Governor had never used a private secre-
tary, and said he did not want one, but he
had not been in the executive mansion a
week before he was totally swamped
Then, for the second time, Lamont was sent
for to help him clear away the accurnula-
ton of business; but it would not stay cleared
away, and so Lamont found himself in
stalled in a position he had not sought,
which had not been offered him, but into
which he had been hustled by circum-
stances 1t was only to be temporary, the
service he was performing, but since that
day the President has scarcely been out Of
sight of Dan for a day except once, and
that was when off on his bridal trip. Even
then he sent for Lamont before the week
was over. No President ever gave more
full and free confidence to his secretary than
is intrIsted to Lamont. Mr.. Cleveland has
not a secret from him. He even employed
the genial Daniel to do his counting, and
couldn't have had better agent in this ca
pacity.
By the time Lamont reaches the White
House from his home on III street, four or
five blocks away, the President has finished
his breakfast, read the morning papers and
is ready for his days work. Lamont goes
to his side at once, and the two sit down to-
gether over the mornings mail. There are
usually hundred letters or SO requiring the
Presidents attention, and after reading
them over he directs what the answers, if
any, shall be. Then there are other official
subjects of pressing Importance, to be
looked after, and the work of the day to be
laid out. By this time the Presidents call
ers have begun to arrive, and while he is
disposing of them Col. Lamont has a room
full of people to see. They come on almost
every errand that can be conceived of. One
wants a foreign mission; another thinks
some Official of the government has treated
him unjustly; another has a claim pending
before the Commissioner of Pensions and
thinks a note from the President would Sc
cure immediate and favorable action; an
other has been granted patent for some
new labor-saving machine, and would like
to show it to the President in order to get
from him a certificate of its utility. There
are usually number of poor women who
have been discharged from government EN-
ployment. or whose husbands or sons have
been dismissed; women whose sons have
enlisted in the army or navy, and who have
come all the way to Washington to get the
President to order their discharge, or the
wives or mothers of convicts with pitiful
appeals for pardon. Then there are delega-
tons who have come to invite the President
to appear as an advertisement for some sum-
NOR resort, or some county fair, OF to make
an address at some celebration. The lat
ter's doorkeeper sends to Col. Lamont all the
callers he thinks the President will not want
TO see, and they comprise about two-thirds
of all the people who enter the White
House. Politicians and office seekers try to
interest Lamont in the claims of them
selves ana their friends and to persuade him
70 use his influence in their behalf; but
this is something he will not do. Lannon'S
rule il to serve the President alone. He Is
Interested in the welfare of no one else,
and, unless he sees where the President can
make point, he offers no suggestion,
Very 0tIpp1. rput1qSts nrn made of HIM,